News & Commentary written by Anna Arceneaux

Anna Arceneaux is a senior staff attorney with the ACLU Capital Punishment Project. At the CPP, Anna represents clients in capital cases at the trial and direct appeal levels across the South. Anna also has authored amicus curiae briefs in capital cases in state courts around the country in partnership with ACLU affiliates and other advocacy organizations, written blog posts and policy papers about the death penalty, consulted with capital defense attorneys and activists, and presented at training seminars for capital defense attorneys. In addition, she has worked with the ACLU Human Rights Program in drafting submissions to international human rights bodies concerning the administration of the death penalty in the U.S.

Prior to joining the ACLU, Anna was a fellow at the Fair Trial Initiative, where she assisted in the preparation of capital trial and post-conviction cases in North Carolina. Anna graduated from Columbia University School of Law in 2006, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar. She also served as Chapter Editor for the Human Rights Law Review/Jailhouse Lawyer’s Manual. During law school, Anna interned at the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center and participated in the school’s Human Rights Clinic. Anna also co-founded the Student Hurricane Network, a national network of law student volunteers created in response to the devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which won Columbia’s 2006 Public Interest New Initiative of the Year Award. Anna graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 2001 with a B.A. in English, Economics, and French from the University of Texas.